A long recognized problem in the health care industry is patient non-compliance with the administration of medications. If prescribed medication is not taken at the correct time, or in the correct dosage, or is not taken at all, the medication will not have the intended effects which can be dangerous or even fatal. Monitoring and control is often essential for such compliance. This problem is exacerbated in the elderly and in mentally ill patients. Many elderly patients arrive in emergency departments, often quite ill, for the very simple reason of non-compliance with medication regimes. They cannot remember to take their medications at the correct time and dose. Likewise, nearly half of patients entering nursing homes do so for the reason that they cannot cope with medication dosage compliance. The situation is not helped by the fact that, as a person ages, there is a concomitant increase in the number of medical problems he/she must address and precisely at a time in life when remembering becomes more challenging.
Often, the government or family members will pay for private home care workers to attend at the home of the elderly or mentally ill patients to ensure medication administration compliance. The cost of these visits (often several times in one day) is an enormous financial burden, whether borne by family or government. It is clear that there are both health and economic benefits to a reliable medical reminder and dispensing system.
There are a variety of automatic pill dispensers purportedly aimed at some aspects of the pill dispensing problem in the related art. Some provide dispensing of pills at pre-determined time intervals and some provide feedback to call centres and visual or audible alarm messages. All have shortcomings in one or more of the following areas: complexity, cost, flexibility, ease of use, and error resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,100 (granted to Interactive Medical Developments LC on Dec. 18, 2001) discloses a medical reminder and medication dispenser device which provides a series of cylindrical tubes, each holding pre-loaded dispenser cups 100 containing particular medications to be taken at allotted times. These canisters or dispensing cups are pre-loaded by a caregiver. There are LCD (32) screen and audio alarm features along with a communication feature with a call centre. The mechanism of dispensing the canisters is prone to error and a limiting feature of this device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,323 (granted to United Home Technologies on Dec. 10, 1996) describes a dispenser apparatus not completely dissimilar that in later filed the U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,100 patent above, but it has no means to protect for patient overdosing nor does it provide emergency communication to local caregivers as opposed to call centre.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,912 (granted to Damon Cousin on Jul. 8, 1997) describes another dispensing and monitoring device with clear similarities to U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,100 (there are controls against overdosing) but such controls are complex (difficult for patient usage and compliance) and the dispensing compartments are used over and over hence there is the issue of contamination and reside build-up.
Canadian Patent Application 2,283,391 (filed originally as international application WO98/38909 by Informedix, Inc.) describes another dispensing device but clearly not designed for patients with compromised mental functions i.e. the patients must have the ability to read and discern dosages of drug to be taken from each compartment (see page 31—in which is it shown that the compartments in the tray are designed to hold not just a particular “dose” but a week or more supply of given drug). There is a high risk of overdosing and non-compliance.
Informedix Inc. has a series US Patents in place covering drug dispensing devices including U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,855 from which WO98/38909 claims priority, U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,752, U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,641, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,731. This family of patents all appears to have the same drawback as Canadian 2,283,391, namely poor protection against overdosing or incorrect dosing. It appears largely up to the patient to be cognizant enough to read and follow the dosage instructions provided by the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,453 (was granted to Maestre on Sep. 13, 1994) covers a medication holder device (with alarm) which also requires patient selection and compliance with dosing regimen.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,259 (was granted to Bartur on Jul. 17, 2001) describes another reminder device in which pills are removed, in accordance with a programmed dosage regime, from a pez-like dispenser. A single pill or tablet is dispensed by each revolution of the delivery drum 120 by way of the actuator 124. The patient appears to need to follow the specific dosage instructions provided by the device in order not to overdose.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,344 (was granted to Profile Systems LLC on Dec. 15, 1998) is focused on the monitoring and feedback aspects of a device while the dispensing portion 25 is considered optional. In fact, there is no teaching as to exactly how the dispensing portion works or how it prevents overdosing. In other words, there are no mechanics provided in relation to dispensing portion 25 and how it would achieve the desired goals.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate the above disadvantages.